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Let's play Deus Ex mods!

There have been many 'Mods?' threads over the ages so I thought it might be useful to collect them in one thread and maybe have some kind of review system so everyone can see how it was received. So in this thread I would like people to play the mods and review them (or just review them if you've already played them) and I'll update this post with information and "What You Thought" on the mod. If it looks like it'll be useful I'll sticky it for posterity

Burden of 80 Proofdownload
Info: There's a crazy party in beach house and you need alcohol!
To play: Run the downloaded file and start Burden of 80 Proof from the Start menu.
You thought: Roleplay: 10/10, Combat: 3/10 AxTng1
Roleplay: 8/10, Combat: 5/10 - Jonas Wæver

Hardcore DXdownload
Info: DX on steroids. Adds many features and changes many more for both single player and multiplayer games.
To play: Unzip the hardcore50r1.zip file to your main DeusEx directory (usually C:\DeusEx) and run the Hejhujka.bat file to start playing the mod.
You thought: ???

Hotel Caronedownload
Info: "The Mission is set right after Mission 3 of the original game and assumes you haven't killed Lebedev in the 747, and that's about all the information you really need to play the mod. " - carone
To play: Run the downloaded file and launch with the shortcut in C:/DeusEx/HotelCarone
You thought: Roleplay: 5/10, Combat: 8/10 - AxTng1
Roleplay: 4/10, Combat: 8/10 - Jonas Wæver

Redsun2020download
Info: "Joseph is the newest Nanotech Agent developed in Secret by a group of UNATCO:SCI scientists who wanted to develop the ideal Agent. The agent they developed will fight for the good of the Human race. Then, during a training mission in Asia, he is kidnapped and taken to a TMG lab in Tokyo.
To play: Install the downloaded file and run from the Start menu."
You thought: Roleplay: 8/10, Combat: 9/10 - AxTng1
Roleplay: 6/10, Combat: 7/10 - Jonas Wæver

Presidential Emergency
Info: "A two-level single player map for Deus Ex. The player is JC Denton, but in my scenario JC is an agent for the Secret Service. The game starts in the Secret Service HQ."
To play: Unzip presem.zip into your Deus Ex directory. To start the level, start the game, enter the console and type: open 71_whitehouse
You thought: ???

Shifter download (v1.7)
Info: Changes many DX settings to make it (in the maker's eyes) better/cooler. Overwrites core DX settings so the originals must be backed up in case you want them back. Works with several mods.
To use: Unzip the downloaded file into your Deus Ex folder and overwrite the existing files.
You thought: ???

Shifter download (v1.7)
Info: Changes many DX settings to make it (in the maker's eyes) better/cooler. Overwrites core DX settings so the originals must be backed up in case you want them back. Works with several mods.
To use: Unzip the downloaded file into your Deus Ex folder and overwrite the existing files.
You thought: ???

I can't comment on the rest but I do have played with the shifter mod. It's pretty hard to decide whether this is a good mod or not since while it have some nifty ideas it has a couple I don't particularly like.

Fixes(and good points imho):
1. You can pickup any body. It doesn't matter that you don't have enough room to loot that flamethrower first. Everything you can't loot it drops on the spot. While Deus Ex AI doesn't seem to care about dead people lying around I seldom let unconscious people get in harms way. So it was a great addition.
2. Laser Pointer fix. It is coupled on your weapon skill. So while the bullet still will hit where the pointer goes it won't stand still unless you have the weapon mastered.
3. Combination of combat strength and normal strength into one aug. The opposite aug was an emp attack then that could disable/turn robots with a melee attack.

Neutral:
- Ability to swap augs. I know that is a hot topic since it's one thing IW allows for while Deus Ex doesn't. I did use that in one case for testing out the opposite augment. But switched back later though. :P Overall it's okay as the switching is limited by availability of aug canisters.

Not so good points:
1. XP per kill system. You can - and I did - disable it. But it starts with a system that gives you xp for a kill. I'm not particular fond of that idea in Deus Ex as it makes getting xp a priority. Since there is a mechanism in place to reward a non lethal approach too it isn't purely by killing only. But the incentive is the same. Nothing that appealed to me since the devs had the skill points laid out in a nice way.
2. Overpowered weapons. Seriously they are too strong. Upping the crowbar and the baton by one point might be ok. But if all the custom weapons are as strong as the baton from Paul(can't remember the name) that it is overpowered. With that thing you could blow even MIBs unconscious with a single strike.

There is alot more in this mod but these are the things sticking out for me. Even though it looks like there is alot negative I would recommend it.

Perhaps another rating system for each mod? Burden and Cassandra were quite different to the other DX mods I've played, and that should be reflected, maybe with Roleplay and Combat ratings? These are how I would rate those that I have played

I did intend to play all these, indeed, they are all installed. Unfortunately just after installing I came down with a bad case of BG2itis and also started working 12 hours a day 7 days a week so it'll be a while before I can actually contribute

Listening to characters prattle on and on and on about themselves counts as roleplaying now?

Originally Posted by Jonas Wæver

I'm assuming "roleplay" is just a term for character interaction of any kind, including the quality of the writing.

I'm not sure I'd say Deus Ex features a lot of roleplaying, and interestingly what roleplaying the game does have is a lot more action-based than any actual roleplaying game I've ever played. In Deus Ex, you don't just choose your character's personality through the dialogue, you actually play your character like you want him to be - stealthy, gung-ho, lethal, merciful...

So we could define roleplay in Deus Ex mods in two ways:

1) How well does the world respond to your play style?
or
2) How detailed and interesting is the character interaction in general?

Since Deus Ex operates with a tabula rasa of a protagonist, there's not a lot of opportunities for self-expression in the character interaction, so what makes it interesting becomes the personalities and reactions of the various people you talk to.

The first definition is great in my opinion, but the second definition is easier to handle, especially next to a vague "Combat" parameter that I assume covers all the action gameplay (including sneaking past enemies, ambushing them, or hacking past obstacles).

In other words I interpret "Combat" and "Roleplay" in this instance to "Action" and "Character interaction". In which case I thought TCP was excellent in the latter department, having really well defined characters and lots and lots of detail in how to interact with them.

But then that's just my opinion, you're free to present your own opinion if you'll take a moment out of being a douchebag long enough to form one

Since Deus Ex operates with a tabula rasa of a protagonist, there's not a lot of opportunities for self-expression in the character interaction

This statement makes the exact opposite of sense. A blank-slate character is the PERFECT medium for player expression. The more personality you bake into your avatar, the more constrained your range of plausible interactions become.

And I found TCP to have mostly obnoxious, self-absorbed, entirely-too-impressed-with-themselves characters. Which, considering who wrote most of their dialog, isn't entirely surprising.

Well thank god there's enough "obnoxious, self-absorbed, entirely-too-impressed-with-themselves"-ness to go around, eh? God knows what you'd come up with if you didn't have that to fall back on.

As for the tabula rasa re: expression, the problem is that while a fully developed character may have a limited range of plausible interactions, a totally blank slate has essentially infinite plausible interactions, which is really fucking difficult to write dialogue for.

Every option you give the player inherently refines the character's personality purely by virtue of all the options you DIDN'T give the player. A JC Denton who can be "violent or pacifistic" in a conversation is already one who isn't completely indifferent, or bored, or hyperactive, or really wanting to dress as a clown, or whatever.

So it becomes quite difficult to generate player-derived self-expression without imprinting quite a lot of your own, if you get what I mean.

And I found TCP to have mostly obnoxious, self-absorbed, entirely-too-impressed-with-themselves characters. Which, considering who wrote most of their dialog, isn't entirely surprising.

I kinda enjoyed that the mod was about basically unlikeable people ("first-rate as professionals, distinctly third-rate as people" as one of them put it). Too bad Cassandra didn't get to the point where they would see their world crashing down on them. Oh well.

Every option you give the player inherently refines the character's personality purely by virtue of all the options you DIDN'T give the player. A JC Denton who can be "violent or pacifistic" in a conversation is already one who isn't completely indifferent, or bored, or hyperactive, or really wanting to dress as a clown, or whatever.

So it becomes quite difficult to generate player-derived self-expression without imprinting quite a lot of your own, if you get what I mean.

I think this is a very good point. Far too often, games with multiple-choice dialogue completely omit any (to me) reasonable option, and I'm forced to choose the least stupid one. Nearly every multiple-choice conversation in Oblivion falls into this category, for example.

Still, for some reason your examples compel me to say: "I colour the world with the hues of my madness!"

Hm, seems that the Cassandra Project download link doesn't work for me, unfortunately. However, I have a file called CassandraPart1Setup.exe (24,1 Mb size) in my archive, is that the latest version of the mod?